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02 June 2013

That Hidden Uncle or Aunt

Do you have an aunt or uncle who was "sent away" because they were developmentally disabled? There was a time when individuals with these challenges were "not spoken of" or were institutionalized and never heard from again. Maybe you are unable to locate a death record because the person died in an institution a distance from "home" in a place you are not thinking to look.

5 comments:

I came across a individual in this situation. The family of this ancestor told me they were always told their Uncle Art joind the circus one year it was in town and never returned home. I was thinking he was either in jail, in a mental institution or joined a military service. Thing is he applied for a marriage license, however never got married. On the application someone wrote "do not publish." So there are many question over this ancestor.

Thanks to census records on line, I found a relative in the census, two states away, in an infirmary. Place of birth was wrong, but all the other information was correct. He died in this institution and the death certificates for that state were on the internet. Seems he died from a mental illness, but the family always wrote him off as a drunk or drug user. I believe he was wrongly accused; he couldn't help having this illness.

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